This year, Footballguys is going even deeper into the realm of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) when it comes to football coverage. We have partnered with one of the biggest sites in the industry, DraftKings, and our staff has grown to a point where we feel that we will have some of the best – if not the best – content when it comes to DFS NFL coverage.
With that said, the natural question is simply this – What is it that Footballguys will be offering insiders this season? Well, I am glad you asked. Here is a list of all of our weekly articles and content that will be tailored towards DraftKings coverage:
“Tips and Picks” by John Lee – This article will be very similar to the three-part weekly series that John produced last year for Footballguys. This is quite simply the summary of “Best Plays” for DraftKings contests, with a look at the best plays for cash games and tournaments / Guaranteed Prize Pool (GPP) contests. If you only read one piece each week for DraftKings, this would be the one – but why stop there?
“Millionaire Maker Recap” by Dan Hindery – For those of you who read our book (“Cracking DraftKings”), this article will be a bit similar to the breakdown Dan did of the best rosters created for the Millionaire Maker contests on DraftKings, but on a week-by-week basis, looking back at the most recent Millionaire Maker contest as well as some trends that might develop over the season. There is no better way to understand how to make tournament-winning rosters than to dissect other winning rosters, and Dan does all the heavy lifting for you.
“Contests Spotlight” by Jeff Pasquino – DraftKings wants Footballguys readers to know what the best and biggest contests are for the week, and this page will tell you all of that in one place. From giant 50/50 contests to Millionaire Makers to qualifiers for a Live Final – they will all be highlighted every week right here.
“Thursday Night Spotlight” by Steve Buzzard – Should you play that running back on Thursday Night Football or not? What about the injury outlook for the week for many players to consider on Thursday, Sunday and Monday? Steve Buzzard helps you to decide with the Thursday Night Spotlight, where he will go over some key injury situations, the likely game script for both teams for Thursday, and how all of that information translates to your DFS lineup decisions.
“Cost Efficiency” by Justin Howe – Want to know the value of a given player on DraftKings in terms of points-per-dollar? That simple number simplifies the value discussion for all of our projected players, which happens to be every player in the mix each week on DraftKings. This article sums it all up in one neat little format.
“Projecting Ownership Percentage” by Phil Alexander – First off, Footballguys will be generating projected ownership percentages for DraftKings in tournaments and cash games this year using our own algorithms – how cool is that? Then our own Phil Alexander will read up on those numbers and break them down into ranges of players, such as those projected to be owned less than 10% that week. Do any of those make for good alternative roster moves? What about the players highly owned for a given week – are they must plays? Phil will touch on those as well.
“The Fade” and “The Contrarian” by Chris Feery – Ownership percentages only go so far, unless you know what to do with that information. Do you “fade” someone who will be owned quite a bit in a tournament, or do you take that “chalk” player and put him in your lineup? The second article is all about making a “contrarian play” to the highly owned players. This is where you go to the next level after deciding to fade that player and read up on who to use in a tournament to go against the grain.
“Exposed” by Scott Bischoff and Aaron Rudnicki – I have to tell you this – no one else that I know of is writing a DFS article like this anywhere, and the fact that Footballguys can not only produce it but do it on a weekly basis is amazing to me. This article will be a back-and-forth type discussion between a DFS expert (Scott Bischoff) and an IDP expert (Aaron Rudnicki) and highlight the most advantageous defensive players to target for big results in the week. That’s right, Scott and Aaron will look at bad cornerbacks and weak defensive matchups to highlight sleepers, and also point out what studs might be visiting “Revis Island” or worse that week.
“Medical Check” by Steve Buzzard and Jene Bramel – It is one thing to look at the NFL injury report, but it is quite another when you have a medical doctor tell you what it means. That’s what Jene Bramel brings to the table, and he and Steve will collaborate to bring you the best information we have as to what injuries are impacting the week in DFS all season long.
“Newly Minted” by Will Grant – Did you ever wonder about that Millionaire Maker winner, or at least someone who finished in the Top 10 and took away a hefty prize? Will Grant will peek behind that DFS curtain and interview some of the biggest winners on DraftKings throughout the season.
“Starting Stacks” by John Mamula – Stacking is a big way to go for big points in tournaments, and John Mamula will list some of his favorite stacks of quarterbacks and receivers, running backs and defenses, or even a unique combination for the DFS tournaments of the week.
“Pivot Points” by B.J. VanderWoude – You are playing in a DFS contest on DraftKings and the Sunday games are almost over. You look at your scores and see you are way ahead with just one or two players to go that are playing either on Sunday Night or Monday Night Football. The decision now is this – do you leave your lineup as it was, or do you make a roster move with the late swap option on DraftKings and pick a more conservative play? Or, are you doing the same thing and for some strange reason you are trailing – who can you put in your squad to go for a bigger performance and possibly pull off the comeback? B.J. VanderWoude is going to look at both of those situations and give you advice for player moves late in the DFS week.
But wait, there’s more….
In addition to all of the content above, the staff at Footballguys are going to have several collaborative pieces where several staffers express their opinions – and sometimes even actual rosters – for the upcoming NFL week.
“Staff Thursday Cash Plays” and “Staff Sunday Cash Plays” hosted by Will Grant – The Footballguys’ staff will submit their own cash play rosters for the week and compete against one another (and quite possibly numerous readers) in a cash game on DraftKings each week. The results will be tracked on a weekly basis, and a link to the contest will be provided in case the reader likes one or more of the lineups (or a combination) and wants to play along.
“Wisdom of the Staff” hosted by Jeff Haseley – Sometimes you just want answers, and this article is going to have lots of them. In another collaborative work by Footballguys, Jeff Haseley will outline lots of questions for the week ahead and the staff will get right to the point with a quick answer. If you only have a few minutes each week to find what you need to know, this is the place to be.
“Sunday Games Roundtable” hosted by Ryan Hester – One of the best things about Footballguys is the large number of great minds amassed on the staff, and there is nothing quite like reading a conversation on a given NFL topic amongst them all. That is what it will feel like as you read the DraftKings Sunday Games Roundtable where Ryan Hester and 4-5 staff discuss the DFS topics of the week.
And there will be even more content thanks to our hard-working Doug Drinen, who will enable the staff to provide “Staff Consensus Rankings”, where the staff will rank their best DFS players for the week, and also each player will have their own DFS Research Tab to show their scoring and pricing history at DraftKings.
I'm not done yet....
There will also be a DraftKings blog (titled Cracking DraftKings, what else?), where the entire Footballguys' staff that is covering DraftKings will be able to share their thoughts with readers. There are so many topics already covered, but if the staff has a thought or commentary that does not fit into an article or collaborative piece listed above, here is the place where even more information will be shared with the DFS community.
Last but not least will be a new DFS Podcast that will cover DraftKings on a weekly basis, hosted by Cecil Lammey. Jeff Pasquino and John Lee will be regular staples along with Cecil to talk about the latest news and notes in the NFL and how they will influence DFS decisions for the week, along with cash game and tournament game lineup considerations for the weekly NFL games on DraftKings. Below are some of the first releases of this podcast, starting with a discussion on DraftKings' Week 1 NFL Pricing:
The Audible - DraftKings' Week 1 NFL Pricing
DFS 101 - The Footballguys' DraftKings Beginner DFS Podcast
DFS 201 - The Footballguys' Draftkings Advanced DFS Podcast
DFS 301 - Episode 3 - Behind the Scenes of Cracking Draftings
And of course, do not forget the new bible of DraftKings DFS Content - Footballguys' Cracking DraftKings.
All of this DraftKings' content is in addition to the DFS staples from last year, such as “The Daily Grind” by Jeff Pasquino that covers the entire DFS industry and news each week, and the Interactive Value Charts produced by Maurile Tremblay. The IVCs as we have come to know them is one of the best lineup building tools around, and it will only continue to get better and better.
It’s going to be a great year in DFS and at Footballguys. We cannot wait for September.
